


[misc]

by neobionic



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Gang World, Break Up, Monsters, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:34:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23429290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neobionic/pseuds/neobionic
Summary: various unrelated shortfics
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. johnny-centric

they’re huddled in an underground parking garage. hunched in small groups or trios between the wrecked and abandoned cars, checking supplies. some pacing back and forth. some sitting alone along the walls, staring at nothing. 

twenty-one men, boys - kids. all the remaining members of the neo city tribe. their weapons consist of spiked bats, stolen tasers, old hunting rifles, makeshift bottle bombs. 

the police is long gone. the militia squashed like the joke it always was - old uncles playing war in the woods, feeling cool in their trucks and camo jackets. the nct is all that’s left. the only thing standing between the city and the enemy; the eldritch abominations shuffling down the empty streets.

johnny hasn’t seen them up close, but he doesn’t need to. he has seen enough. it comes to him when he tries to sleep; the image of a silhouette at the other end of a murky avenue, long gangly limbs dark against the fog. it was as tall as the building it was standing next to; some four, five stories. johnny stood frozen, physically unable to move. like a shrew caught in the shadow of a circling falcon.

then the creature shifted. turned around. johnny felt eyes on him. that’s when he ran.

he has woken up sweaty, screaming for mommy like a baby. but his mom died years ago.

the electricity’s wiped out in several districts. fires raging until they run out of fuel or the rains quench them. broken windows. bodies on the streets. 

roars in the silence; rumbling, warbling, drawn out. they communicate.

taeyong comes by, handing him a dented can of beans. johnny takes it with a tight smile. taeyong returns it and moves on, handing out snacks and meals, making sure nobody goes out there unfed.

johnny looks around. jungwoo is sitting in the passenger seat of one of the cars nearby, doors missing. he has both knees pulled up to his chest, rocking slightly, staring emptily at the dashboard. johnny swallows, but then he turns around. he can’t do anything there.

jaehyun, face hard, showing jisung and yangyang how to change the clip of a handgun. yukhei standing on the hood of a car, eyes wide with adrenaline, ranting about how they can do this, how they’re gonna show the motherfuckers. haechan in a corner, slowly scooping chunks of tuna out of a can with his fingers. 

johnny heads over to sink down next to him on the dirty concrete floor. “hey.”

haechan looks up at him. “hey.”

he has known haechan since the kid was, like, twelve. watched him grow up. taught him how to swipe meal packs and hotwire a car. they’re practically brothers. haechan’s face looks grey under the pale tubes of light in the ceiling.

“are you scared?”

haechan shrugs. “no.” he licks tuna juice off his pointer, and johnny notices that his hand is shaking a little. “there is nothing left. i have nothing to lose.”

“you have me,” johnny says, before he realizes that’s maybe not the right thing to say to cheer him up. but it does make something like a grin tug at haechan’s face.

“great,” he says, a hint of his usual bratty snark audible in his voice. “can i trade you for a machine gun?”

“hey!” johnny throws an arm around his neck to pull him into a loose headlock. “nothing’s stronger than the power of _love._ ”

haechan snorts. “gross, hyung.”

johnny leans his head back against the flaking paint of the wall. he watches his crew, his family. they were always fucked - that’s nothing new. it’s just a matter of what’s gonna take you down in the end. 

he knows he’s gonna die tonight. but if he can take one of those fuckers with him, it’ll be worth it.


	2. jaewin

“so that’s it?” jaehyun says. sitting under seombat-ro bridge, digging his heel in the gravel, not looking at sicheng’s face. “you move back to beijing and it’s over and i don’t get a say?”

sicheng doesn’t say anything stupid. like asking if he needs jaehyun’s permission to do things. if jaehyun wants him to give up his dreams. or if jaehyun wants to go with him. he’s gone over this plenty times in his head already. there is nothing to be done.

“i’m sorry.”

jaehyun scoffs. “yeah, okay.”

jaehyun knows how hard it is to get into a school like this. he knows how much sicheng wants it. he picks up a pebble, rubs his thumb over it, then throws it away.

“so a long-distance thing. is that at all an option?”

sicheng gives a careful shrug. “i just don’t think it would work.”

everything must come to an end. their relationship has reached their natural conclusion. how long were they likely to last anyway? sicheng is not naive enough to think that a college boyfriend is his destined soulmate, love of his life, yada yada. people come and people go. you can’t let them hold you back from what you want to do. even if you really like them.

jaehyun sniffs vaguely. sicheng wants to reach out and put an arm around him, but he doesn’t know if jaehyun would let him.

“well, this sucks,” jaehyun says.

“yeah.” sicheng swallows on the thickness in his throat. he looks out over the river. the water steadily flowing, forever moving, never staying the same. “it does.”


End file.
